Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Title: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Review:

The best of Anime films are philosophical in nature. I’ve noticed that when anime directors talk about their films, they tend to talk about how much of their own life philosophy they have put into them. Miyazaki is one such director; many of his films carry environmentalist messages within them. Miyazaki ’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984) and Princess Mononoke (1997) for example are films that explore themes of man vs. nature and even man vs. the divine. I guess so much time and effort is put into these films, that the filmmakers behind them want to infuse them with something personal, a philosophical fingerprint so to speak. Mamoru Oshii’s films are especially recognized for their philosophical approach towards anime. In fact, as I mentioned in my review for Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell (1995), his films are populated by characters who love to have long philosophical conversations. Ghost in the Shell was a science fiction film that explored themes of existentialism and asked questions like: How can we prove that we exist? Do our memories define us? What defines life? How can we grow and evolve as human beings? And when we are fully in control of our lives, where do we go from there? Important questions in deed. So when I finally decided to give Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence a watch, I immediately wondered what kind philosophical questions Oshii would explore this time around.

If you remember correctly, Ghost in the Shell presented us with the characters of Major Motoko Kusanagi and Batu, both of which belonged to an organization known as ‘Section 9’, an anti-terrorist unit. In that film Major Motoko and Batu were after a computer program known as ‘The Puppet Master’, a program that suddenly turns into a sentient being. The Puppet Master has become aware of its existence and wants to find a way to exist within the real world. The renegade program ends up transferring its consciousness into Major Motoko, who by the end of the film ends up disappearing into the world saying “And where does the newborn go from here? The net is vast and infinite”; then she jumps off a building and disappears into her new life in the real world. On Ghost in the Shell 2, Major Motoko is still at large, living her life somewhere in the real world. The government is still looking for her, but not because they care for her, rather, what they care about is the top secret information she carries in her brain. On this film we focus more on Batu, a couple of years after the events of the first film. He still works for Section 9, but since Major Motoko’s disappearance, he is now working on his own.

Basically, this film is Batu’s show. ‘The Major’ as they refer to Major Motoko Kusanagi (the main character in the first film) functions as more of a guardian angel for Batu. We hear her voice, but we never really see her, at least not in the way we saw her in the first film. ‘Innocence’ focuses on Batu’s investigations concerning a series of murders that have occurred in which sex robots known as ‘gynoids’ have killed their masters. 8 murders have been committed by these cyborgs. The gynoids suddenly go nuts and decide to kill their masters and themselves. Why is this happening? Who is at the root of this? Or is it simply a malfunction? A glitch in their programming? To aid Batu in his investigation, he is assigned a new partner named Togusa; an all too human partner.

I love the first Ghost in the Shell film. I like its deliberately slow pace, its philosophical explorations, its cyberpunk mood, its futuristic landscape and the animation, top notch. But I always felt it was missing something. I felt the story sort of ended too quickly, I needed more of a bang in the last minutes of the film. But aside from that, the first Ghost in the Shell is near perfect to me. So here comes this sequel that completely surpasses the original on all levels. Interesting part about this project is that even though it’s a bigger film, with a bigger budget (reportedly around 20 million dollars) the film still manages to have incredibly intimate and introspective moments, the kind of moments you’d expect from a Mamoru Oshii film. There is this one moment where we see Batu arriving at his apartment, preparing food for his dog and sitting on his couch to relax and contemplate the events of the day, some of the quietest moments in the film; yet incredibly endearing somehow. The relationship and closeness between Batu and his Baset Hound offer us some of the most heartfelt moments in the film. That’s another thing you can expect to see in Oshii’s films, he loves his Baset Hounds and has included them in many of his films in one way or another. On this one the dog is all over the film going as far as forming an important part of the films themes. On this film Oshii puts across the idea that we are all important and alive and part of this world, be it humans or dogs or cyborgs; the ultimate message being coexistence.

Visually speaking, this film is superior to anything that Oshii has ever done. A couple of years ago Oshii decided to take the original Ghost in the Shell and refurbish the visuals by adding and replacing couple of animation sequences which were done with traditional animation with new CGI. In my opinion, that experiment didn’t work very well because the new CGI stood out like a sore thumb against the older animation, that version of Ghost in the Shell was called Ghost in the Shell 2.0, I personally recommend the original version with the traditional animation in it over the new ‘enhanced’ version. On Innocence, Oshii decided to mix both CGI animation with traditional, only this time it worked because it was what was intended for this film from the get go. The result are some of the most beautiful and astonishing images your apt to see in an Anime, these animators really out did themselves in terms of details, one viewing of this film will not be enough to absorb it all. Repeated viewings are certainly recommended. Oshii pushed his team of expert animators to the limit with this film, always giving them a new challenge in terms of what they could do. The DVD extras really go into what the animators had to go through to make this movie, I loved the fact that they interviewed them and asks their opinions on the the whole creative process, it was a real insight. In fact, the making off segments are highly recommended. They follow the whole process of the film up to the part where Mamoru Oshii and his producer travel to France, for the Cannes Film Festival, but more on that in a few moments. 

Their are some scenes in Innocence that evoke scenes from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982), an obvious influence over this film. For example the scenes in which Bato and Togusa visit an old city and fly over it on a ship, looking at the city as they flyby, in these instances Oshii takes his time in letting the audience bask in the visuals, same as Ridley Scott did in those first opening moments of Blade Runner, where we could really take in that futuristic landscape of flying cars and interesting architectures. Whole moments are there for us to simply admire and enjoy the artistry with which this film was made. There’s this whole sequence that’s takes place during a parade that’s simply stunning, and when they reach the headquarters of Locus Solus (the company that manufactures the cyborgs) the design in these sequence are also something to be admired. Just be ready for some truly beautiful imagery. 

In Oshii’s own words, this is not your conventional anime film. At it’s core, this is a drama for adults. Oshii hoped that even though the story is aimed at adults, hopefully the younger crowd will find the film appealing as well. But ultimately, Oshii didn’t have kids in mind when he made this one. It’s a film that’s very moody, and quiet at times, Oshii enjoys his intimate quiet moments. His characters don’t have to be going around blowing everything up every five seconds. Characters in an Oshii film feel very real because of this. But don’t confuse this with a boring movie, it has its action packed moments, I think Oshii did a good balancing act between quiet moments and more action packed ones. 

The original Ghost in the Shell was extremely influential on American cinema and apparently, so is this sequel. Their are scenes in Innocence that deal with dreams within dreams, watching these scenes I started to wonder if Nolan had seen this film before he started writing Inception. The similarities between both films are there. This wouldn’t surprise me since Inception has many similarities with the first Ghost in the Shell film as well. It seems to me that Christopher Nolan might be a real Mamoru Oshii fan! Influential or not, the film was well received at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. It was even nominated for the Palm D’Or award at the festival, an award reserved only for the best film of the year. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence lost the award to Fahrenheit 9/11, but that doesn’t matter, what does matter is that a Japanese animated film was considered one of the best films that year, going up against live action films and documentaries (and even other animated films like Persepolis) so that says a lot about the films quality. This Mamoru Oshii film is animation of the highest caliber. It’s food for the eyes and the mind, don’t miss it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Ghost In Shell (1995)

Title: Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Review:

Ghost in the Shell was supposed to be the film that would make Americans turn their heads and realize just what they had been missing about Japanese animation all these years. Well, at least that was what the films producers and distributors had in mind, to make American audiences (and the rest of the world) discover ‘Japanimation’. Back then, in the mid 90’s Japanimation wasn’t as huge as it is now, it was something left for fans of Manga and comic books, not for mainstream audiences. As I remember it, Ghost in the Shell didn’t exactly set American movie goers ablaze. It did garner some attention, but this was mostly amongst genre and anime fans. Ghost in the Shell came and went from movie theaters pretty quickly. It did manage to impress critics, film buffs and filmmakers, but failed to capture the attention of the masses. It found its audience later, when it was released on VHS, which is where I discovered it as well. I think what Ghost in the Shell did was begin something, it was one of the first Japanese animation films to garner world wide attention, it was the beginning of something that would grow to become what it is today. I remember not falling in love with Ghost in the Shell immediately either. I mean, I loved the animation. There was no doubt that this was a beautifully made film and as an artist I loved the design that went into the film. The animation was flawless in my book. And of course, I loved the cyberpunk/sci-fi angle. I loved the look of the film and its technical achievements, but what turned me off was that it was low in action and big on scenes upon scenes of characters having long philosophical conversations, most of which simply bounced off my teenage brain. At the time, the film felt overtly complex to me. How did it fare now all these years later?

Well, it fared rather well. I still think this is a decidedly and purposely slow film, but I think that was obviously the vibe the filmmakers were going for. This isnt a dumb action film. This is a philosophical and introspective film every step of the way. Even though it does have some action, the films primary purpose is to explore themes of existentialism and corruption in the government. In Ghost in the Shell, Major Motoko Kusanagi is assigned with locating a hacker known as The Puppet Master. The governments computers are being hacked by this mysterious hacker! In fact, any computer anywhere is being hacked by this entity. The computers at Megatech (a company that builds cyborgs) get hacked as well, so much so that a cyborg gets assembled without authorization and walks right out of the complex and onto the streets! Apparently The Puppet Master has a purpose with all this hacking, and it’s up to Major Motoko and her crew to find out just what that purpose is.

Ghost in the Shell impressed the hell out of American filmmakers like James Cameron who was gushing about it calling it one of the most stylish and intelligent animation films ever made. The Wachowski Brothers were so impressed by it that in order to convince Joel Silver to produce The Matrix for them, they screened it for him and told him “we want to do that, but for real”, the rest is history. After watching Ghost in the Shell, suddenly The Matrix doesn’t feel so original anymore. The Wachowski’s took so much from Ghost in the Shell it’s not even funny! For example, those scenes of Trinity falling down from a building with shards of glass all over her and the city as her backdrop? Completely stolen from Ghost in the Shell! The idea of computer programs becoming sentient beings? The Cyberpunk vibe? Lot ’s of green visuals, with letters and numbers flashing on the screen? Characters with plugs on their necks that connect them to a computer system? Chase sequences that take place in streets full of people? Exploding watermelons? Action scenes with pillars getting shut to hell by machine guns? All these elements were swiped by the Wachowski's from Ghost in the Shell. What the Wachowski’s did was pepper their film with lots more action, which is essentially what’s missing from Ghost in the Shell. But whatever, when Mamoru Oshii set out to make Ghost in the Shell, he obviously didn’t have an action film in mind and when we look into who Mamoru Oshii is as a filmmaker, that makes perfect sense. 

The film is based on Masamune Shirow's comic books

Mamoru Oshii is a filmmaker who constantly strives to go against the Hollywood formula, meaning he doesn’t really like to focus so much on action, or on pleasing the masses by making a cute film that will sell. His cinematic concerns deal more with visuals, mood, and the philosophical angles he can explore. In other words, he prefers to create thought provoking films instead of brainless action spectacles or family fare. One look at Ghost in the Shell and its clear he wanted to create a world made up of stylish visuals, with characters who focus on exploring who they are and why they are here. This is probably why his films aren’t huge box office monsters like for example Hayao Miyazaki films, a director who’s a house hold name in Japan but is diametrically opposed to Oshii as a filmmaker. Mamoru Oshii’s films aren’t directed towards children or deal with overtly simplistic plot lines, rather, Oshii makes films that are very adult oriented, complex, and made so that audiences can work out an interpretation of the film by using their brains instead of having things spelled out for them. In Oshii’s own words “In terms of the persuasiveness of their films, it is true that they have such a power, and it is also true that they have what I don’t have. They have their own instinct for appealing to the general public” Still, even though Oshii’s films don’t have a mass appeal, Oshii is regarded as a very important and influential director in Japan. His influence has even transcended to filmmakers from other parts of the world as well.

There’s a strange thing about this movie, The Puppet Master who is supposed to be the films villain, isn’t really a villain in my book. In the film, The Puppet Master is a program created by the government called Project 2501, the program was designed to do the governments “dirty work”. Problem is that this program got so smart that it's turned into a sentient being, meaning that it knows it exists, just like we do. It knows what it is and it wants out. In this way, Ghost in the Shell reminded me of a movie from the 70’s called Demon Seed (1977) about a program called 'Proteus', in Demon Seed Proteus goes through the same exact process. It wants to escape from the virtual world into the real world and it is willing to do whatever it can to do it. In Demon Seed, the programs main preoccupation is giving birth to a child, to reproduce. This is The Puppet Master’s exact preoccupation as well. But what I found interesting about Ghost in the Shell is that I was agreeing with many of the things that the program is constantly suggesting to Major Motoko, the films cyborg protagonist. He is constantly telling her to be more then she currently is, to evolve, to change. One of my favorite lines in the film is “All things change in a dynamic environment, your effort to remain what you are, is what limits you”

So what we got here ladies and gentlemen is the thinking mans science fiction film. It is deliberately slow paced, so if you cant take a film where characters talk a lot, don’t bother with this one. If on the other hand you’re like philosophy, and enjoy conversations that revolve around existentialism, then this is your film. And to be honest, the film does have its cool action moments! The first 15 minutes are a show stopper of action and will bring to mind many scenes from The Matrix. Plus, the film has that heavy sci-fi angle that instantly makes it a little bit cooler in my book. We get cyborgs hacking into other cyborgs brains, a sentient computer system that has a subversive vibe, cyborgs with abilities to turn invisible, machine guns galore, add all that up and what do you get? A killer sci-fi flick with a heavy dose of intelligence that’s what! It could have used a bit more action, but it wasn’t a big problem for me. A word of warning though: Oshii released a newer version of Ghost in the Shell called “Ghost in the Shell 2.0” which is essentially the same movie, but with “upgraded” computer effects, Im sad to say that this version isnt all that great. It is the same movie, but with new computer graphics in certain scenes. The new computer graphics simply do not gel with the old school traditional animation and the added effects simply serve to take us out of the movie. So my suggestion is to just watch the original version of this film and not version 2.0. Out of Oshii's filmography, I’ll be reviewing Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence next, so be on the look out for that review soon. 

Rating: 4 out of 5